Category Archives: Pollution

A third of Wellington’s kākā parrot chicks found to have lead in their blood

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Toxic metal present in both blood and eggshell samples, but the New Zealand birds appear to have formed a tolerance for it

Lead has been detected in nesting native kākā chicks in Wellington, but unusually, the birds look to have developed a tolerance to the toxin, a study has found.

Kākā are a noisy, smart parrot, with bright green plumage and blood red patches under their wings and chest. They are particularly animated at dawn and dusk, and some Wellingtonians are known to curse their raucous squawking, while others delight in their cheekiness.

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‘Disturbing’: weedkiller ingredient tied to cancer found in 80% of US urine samples

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CDC study finds glyphosate, controversial ingredient found in weedkillers including popular Roundup brand, present in samples

More than 80% of urine samples drawn from children and adults in a US health study contained a weedkilling chemical linked to cancer, a finding scientists have called “disturbing” and “concerning”.

The report by a unit of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) found that out of 2,310 urine samples, taken from a group of Americans intended to be representative of the US population, 1,885 were laced with detectable traces of glyphosate. This is the active ingredient in herbicides sold around the world, including the widely used Roundup brand. Almost a third of the participants were children ranging from six to 18.

This story is co-published with The New Lede, a journalism project of the Environmental Working Group

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‘Industrial revolution’: Australia’s decarbonisation needs rigorous management, thinktank warns

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Grattan Institute paper recommends allowing trading of carbon credits and a firm limit on emissions for country’s largest polluters

Australia’s biggest polluters need a rigorous emissions reduction regime that avoids exemptions for trade-exposed industries, according to the Grattan Institute, which says decarbonising Australian industry is an “Industrial Revolution against a deadline”.

In a new policy paper released on Monday, Tony Wood, the paper’s lead author, says that the “next Industrial Revolution” for the sector will require the government to implement a range of policies to work towards the net zero by 2050 target while avoiding political opposition and social friction.

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Brand new bang: Lake Tahoe resort scraps July 4 fireworks for drones

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Pyrotechnic displays pose a heightened fire risk in a time of intense drought and cause distress to wild animals

Lake Tahoe’s north shore is breaking with tradition and will replace its Fourth of July fireworks celebration with a colorful light display of an entirely different nature.

The tourist town on the Nevada side of the storied lake will offer a night-time drone light show, a display officials at the Incline Village Crystal Bay visitors bureau said carries less danger in a parched landscape primed to burn.

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Ofwat extends sewage dumping inquiry to include South West Water

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Regulator expands investigation after suggestions water firm was not complying with legal obligations

The regulator Ofwat has expanded its investigation into the dumping of raw sewage to include South West Water after finding “shocking” failures in the way the majority of water companies run their waste treatment works.

Ofwat said on Tuesday it had extended its inquiry after heightened concerns about South West Water’s environmental performance and suggestions it was not complying with its legal obligations.

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US must re-examine risks of glyphosate, key Roundup weed-killer ingredient

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Appeals says EPA did not adequately consider whether glyphosate causes cancer and threatens endangered species

The US Environmental Protection Agency has been ordered to take a fresh look at whether glyphosate, the active ingredient in Bayer’s Roundup weed killer, poses unreasonable risks to humans and the environment.

In a 3-0 decision on Friday, the ninth US circuit court of appeals agreed with several environmental, farmworker and food-safety advocacy groups that the EPA did not adequately consider whether glyphosate causes cancer and threatens endangered species.

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Beekeepers and communists: how environmentalists started a global conversation

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The world’s longest serving environment correspondent explains the origins of a slow and continuing journey

It all began with Högertrafikomläggningen, Swedish for “the right-hand traffic reorganisation”.

On 3 September 1967, Sweden switched from driving on the left to driving on the right. The change mainly took place at night, but in Stockholm and Malmö all traffic stopped for most of the weekend while intersections were reconfigured.

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Australian Conservation Foundation names Mount Isa the most polluted postcode in the country

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Mount Isa Mines responsible for 91% of emissions in the outback city despite having an ‘industry-leading air quality management framework’

Mount Isa has been named the most polluted postcode in Australia in a new report from the Australian Conservation Foundation (ACF).

The ACF said the outback city is one of four Queensland locations listed among the Top 10 most polluted postcodes in the country, alongside Gladstone, Stanwell and Tarong.

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US oil refineries spewing cancer-causing benzene into communities, report finds

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Analysis shows alarming level of benzene at fence-line of facilities in Texas, Louisiana, Pennsylvania, Indiana and US Virgin Islands

A dozen US oil refineries last year exceeded the federal limit on average benzene emissions.

Among the 12 refineries that emitted above the maximum level for benzene, five were in Texas, four in Louisiana, and one each in Pennsylvania, Indiana and the US Virgin Islands, a new analysis by the Environmental Integrity Project revealed on Thursday.

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‘People laugh but think twice’: Belgian cartoonist takes on plastic pollution

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Pieter De Poortere is putting his best-known character, Dickie, to work to help galvanise opposition to a giant plastics plant in Antwerp

Belgian cartoonist Pieter De Poortere was trying to do his bit for the environment: eating less meat and diligently sorting his rubbish – glass, paper, plastics. He realised it wasn’t enough. “I thought if we all sort out our trash, then everything will be recycled, everything will be OK, then we are doing great. But actually that is not true,” he said pointing to the problems of the global waste industry, where wealthy countries’ plastic may be dumped, or burned on open fires in poorer countries.

So he put his best-known character to work, as part of an international art project that launched in April, aiming to draw attention to the problem of plastic production.

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‘Forever chemicals’ found in nearly 60% of children’s ‘waterproof’ or ‘stain-resistant’ textiles

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A study found PFAS substances in clothing, pillow protectors, bedding and furniture, some labeled ‘environmentally friendly’

Nearly 60% of children’s textiles labeled “waterproof”, “stain-resistant”, or “environmentally friendly” that were tested as part of a new study contained toxic PFAS substances known as “forever chemicals” due to their persistence in the environment.

Among products checked were clothing, pillow protectors, bedding and furniture.

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Raw sewage ‘pumped into English bathing waters 25,000 times in 2021’

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Liberal Democrats condemn ‘environment scandal’ as party releases figures compiled from Environment Agency data

Untreated sewage was discharged into England’s coastal bathing waters for more than 160,000 hours last year, according to figures collated by the Liberal Democrats to mark the start of the summer sea-swimming season.

Data compiled by the party using Environment Agency figures on 2021 discharges shows that water companies released raw sewage 25,000 times into designated bathing waters off the English coast.

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‘The smell is terrible’: toxic foam clouds float through streets of Bogotá suburb

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Foul-smelling foam blankets homes and businesses and sends residents of Mosquera fleeing, as officials say don’t get too close

A vast blanket of foul-smelling toxic foam has overflowed a polluted river near the Colombian capital Bogotá, covering homes and businesses, and sending residents fleeing from cloud-like fragments as they drift through the streets.

“The smell is terrible – [and] we’ve had to put up with this foam for a long time,” community leader Luz Mariela Gómez told local television channels. “We’re running a risk. Someone could fall down there and we won’t be able to find them.”

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EU unveils plan for ‘largest ever ban’ on dangerous chemicals

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Up to 12,000 substances could fall within the scope of the new ‘restrictions roadmap’

Thousands of potentially harmful chemicals could soon be prohibited in Europe under new restrictions, which campaigners have hailed as the strongest yet.

Earlier this year, scientists said chemical pollution had crossed a “planetary boundary” beyond which lies the breakdown of global ecosystems.

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Women with electric rickshaws combat Delhi’s toxic air – and its sexism

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Break into male-dominated public-transport helps tackle city’s pollution crisis and safety concerns

Monika Devi is thrilled to be driving her autorickshaw. The 35-year-old has two reasons to be particularly proud as she winds her way through New Delhi’s insanely congested streets.

She is one of the first women to be driving one of the three-wheeled taxis that swarm the roads of the Indian capital. And she is driving one of Delhi’s first e-rickshaws – part of the city’s drive to tackle its notoriously filthy air.

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EPA opens civil rights investigations over pollution in Cancer Alley

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Agency will look at whether Black citizens’ rights were violated in polluted industrial corridor in Louisiana

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has opened a series of civil rights investigations into state agencies in Louisiana to examine whether permits granted in the highly polluted industrial corridor, known locally as Cancer Alley, have violated Black citizens rights.

The news, first reported by the New Orleans Advocate, marks further enforcement action taken by the federal agency in the region since the EPA administrator, Michael Regan, visited the area late last year.

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Toxic fumes fill Delhi’s skies after vast landfill site catches fire

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Blaze at 65-metre high ‘mountain of shame’ in Ghazipur still not completely put out

Parts of a fire that broke out on Monday at a gigantic landfill site on the outskirts of Delhi known as the “mountain of shame” were still smouldering 24 hours later, choking local residents who have complained of breathing in toxic fumes.

Dozens of firefighters struggled to douse the flames at the landfill site in Ghazipur, due to its height and a lack of access roads.

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Woman poisoned by chlorine gas leak at London’s Olympic park plans to sue

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Tess Riley has been left fraught with anxiety over any potential impact the gas has had on her pregnancy

A pregnant woman injured by a high quantity of poisonous gas that was accidentally released at the aquatics centre at London’s Olympic park is planning to sue the company that runs the pool.

Tess Riley, 37, who fled the pool with her husband, Thom, and their two-year-old daughter Ruby, said they “vomited our guts out” after the incident, which took place moments after a parent and toddler session in the centre’s training pool on Wednesday morning.

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Chemical from tyres linked to mass salmon deaths in US found in Australia for first time

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Scientists find 6PPD-quinone in Queensland creek and call for urgent research to see if local aquatic life was harmed

A toxic chemical released from tyres as they wear down on roads and implicated in mass deaths of salmon in the United States has been found in an Australian waterway for the first time.

Scientists detected the compound – known as 6PPD-quinone – among a cocktail of chemicals and hundreds of kilograms of tyre particles washed into a creek from a motorway during storms.

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Severn Trent and Anglian Water pledge to do more to protect rivers

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Water firms commit to improving sewage discharge practices after government pressure

Severn Trent and Anglian Water say they will accelerate efforts to protect rivers after the government and regulators called on the sector to do more.

Last month, the environment minister Rebecca Pow called on water companies to significantly improve their practices in England and Wales to support the local environment.

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